Twitter growth shrinks across key industries, including crypto

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An internal study by Twitter shows an alarming decline in interest for previously top-performing topics as well as a shift to not-safe-for-work (NSFW) content that’s made the platform less attractive to advertisers.

According to a report by Reuters, English-speaking “heavy tweeters” are in “absolute decline.” This is a huge problem for the platform as, while they make up less than 10% of monthly users, they’re responsible for 90% of all tweets and half of the platform’s global revenue.

Not only that, these users tweet about the most advertiser-friendly topics, including news, entertainment, and sports.

However, despite chatter around topics such as Kim K, e-sports, and fashion dwindling, conversations about cryptocurrency and NSFW content are on the rise. Indeed, according to Twitter’s report, they’re two of the fastest-growing topics on the platform, with NSFW content alone making up an estimated 13% of traffic.

The damning report comes just days before Elon Musk is expected to finally purchase Twitter for $44 billion. 

Read more: NSFW stars flirt with crypto after banks shut down cash accounts

Twitter’s crypto users blossomed until this summer

Despite crypto being one of the highest growing topics of interest on Twitter, posts on the subject are still down from previous levels. The report found that in late 2021 when crypto prices began to peak, the number of English-speaking users interested in crypto was at its highest. 

However, the report notes that, as crypto prices have plummeted so have the levels of crypto discussion on the platform. In fact, the decline has been so dramatic that an analyst in the report suggested that “cryptocurrencies may not be an area of growth in the future.”

Some of the most prominent crypto-focused tweeters that have gone quiet include:

  • @VladZamfir, an Ethereum researcher with a 75,000-strong following. They were last active in late 2021. 
  • @NickSzabo4, a cryptographer with 349,000 followers. He was last active in early 2021.
  • 3AC founders @zhusu and @KyleLDavies. The pair boasted a combined following of 611,000 but stopped posting in July this year for obvious reasons.  

It looks like Elon may have to embrace NSFW content if he wants to get his money’s worth. 

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